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Points of Light approach to setting
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<blockquote data-quote="Ydars" data-source="post: 4122161" data-attributes="member: 62992"><p>I am very concerned about this and would like to see what Fluff WoTC come up with in the DMG to justify PoLs. My fear is that they will just present this as "the way things are". I am designing two worlds for 4E and am thinking of trying to publish parts of them: I don't think FR or Eberron will work well as PoL settings. </p><p></p><p>I want to create, run (and sell?) a true PoL setting; 95% of the map is monster haunted wilderness sprinkled with fragile, tiny city states or smaller. My biggest settlement will be a city state with a hinterland about 20 miles across. I will also sprinkle the land with much smaller PoLs including isolated villages and Inns etc all surrounded by monster haunted wastes. I want the land to be unexplored and unknown, with only rumour to guide the PCs over the horizon. So how do I justify this setting from a realism point of view?</p><p></p><p>In order for this to work, I have devised passive protection for settlements, otherwise, they would all be highly armed camps. Given that WOTC fluff now states that there are few adventurers apart from the PCs, I don't think this is what they intended (hordes of armies and high level PCs).</p><p></p><p>So here is my design solution; in the past, a race, perhaps the Teiflings, empowered their buildings with a passive magical protection that drives away monsterous creatures. This power is not perfect but is a repulsion that makes it uncomfortable for most monsters to approach. I am working on some mechanics, but they really don't matter as this is fluff not crunch. The protection only offers repulsion about a days ride away maximum and then becomes virtually useless and the power of the repulsion is proportional to the amount of Tiefling stonework present.</p><p></p><p>Since the fall of the Teifling empire, other races and cities have robbed out the stone of the Teiflings (a common practise in real history) and have rebuilt houses, Inns and other settlements out of this stone, usually not realising the protective power. Now we have a mechanic for having isolated inns that monsters stay away from and small villages, isolated in the wilderness. There is a zone around the buildings that monsters hate to enter. They can if pushed hard but usually don't unless they are starving or compelled. the villagers might believe it is the protection of their local god or whatever.</p><p></p><p>Larger towns/cities, having more of this stone, become more resistant to attack and so can farm larger areas. But just go a days ride away and you are in trouble; the forests become tangled and haunted and Fey and other monsters hold sway.</p><p></p><p>I will also include roadways that are lined with blocks of stone from one of the bigger PoLs, so that we will have ribbons of light as well, so there is some limited trade. As long as you stay within the ribbon or PoL, all is likely to be well, but step off the path or out of the light and..............................</p><p></p><p>This should produce, isolated, backward, fearful and superstitous folk who also live in novel civilisations because isolation breeds cultural diversity. They can still be low-level and non-magical and yet survive. Occasionally, once a century, a PoL will vanish as a monster raid finally succeeds but this will be a slow process.</p><p></p><p>I hope this helps (and that I can get Waysider Press off the ground eventually).</p><p></p><p>Ydars</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Ydars, post: 4122161, member: 62992"] I am very concerned about this and would like to see what Fluff WoTC come up with in the DMG to justify PoLs. My fear is that they will just present this as "the way things are". I am designing two worlds for 4E and am thinking of trying to publish parts of them: I don't think FR or Eberron will work well as PoL settings. I want to create, run (and sell?) a true PoL setting; 95% of the map is monster haunted wilderness sprinkled with fragile, tiny city states or smaller. My biggest settlement will be a city state with a hinterland about 20 miles across. I will also sprinkle the land with much smaller PoLs including isolated villages and Inns etc all surrounded by monster haunted wastes. I want the land to be unexplored and unknown, with only rumour to guide the PCs over the horizon. So how do I justify this setting from a realism point of view? In order for this to work, I have devised passive protection for settlements, otherwise, they would all be highly armed camps. Given that WOTC fluff now states that there are few adventurers apart from the PCs, I don't think this is what they intended (hordes of armies and high level PCs). So here is my design solution; in the past, a race, perhaps the Teiflings, empowered their buildings with a passive magical protection that drives away monsterous creatures. This power is not perfect but is a repulsion that makes it uncomfortable for most monsters to approach. I am working on some mechanics, but they really don't matter as this is fluff not crunch. The protection only offers repulsion about a days ride away maximum and then becomes virtually useless and the power of the repulsion is proportional to the amount of Tiefling stonework present. Since the fall of the Teifling empire, other races and cities have robbed out the stone of the Teiflings (a common practise in real history) and have rebuilt houses, Inns and other settlements out of this stone, usually not realising the protective power. Now we have a mechanic for having isolated inns that monsters stay away from and small villages, isolated in the wilderness. There is a zone around the buildings that monsters hate to enter. They can if pushed hard but usually don't unless they are starving or compelled. the villagers might believe it is the protection of their local god or whatever. Larger towns/cities, having more of this stone, become more resistant to attack and so can farm larger areas. But just go a days ride away and you are in trouble; the forests become tangled and haunted and Fey and other monsters hold sway. I will also include roadways that are lined with blocks of stone from one of the bigger PoLs, so that we will have ribbons of light as well, so there is some limited trade. As long as you stay within the ribbon or PoL, all is likely to be well, but step off the path or out of the light and.............................. This should produce, isolated, backward, fearful and superstitous folk who also live in novel civilisations because isolation breeds cultural diversity. They can still be low-level and non-magical and yet survive. Occasionally, once a century, a PoL will vanish as a monster raid finally succeeds but this will be a slow process. I hope this helps (and that I can get Waysider Press off the ground eventually). Ydars [/QUOTE]
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